A groundbreaking peer-reviewed article published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine is reshaping the landscape of healthcare by advocating for meaning, purpose, and spirituality (MPS) to be recognized as foundational elements in the practice of lifestyle medicine. This innovative perspective challenges the traditional view of spirituality and existential components as ancillary or optional in clinical care, underscoring instead their critical influence on patient engagement and the sustainability of health-promoting behaviors.
The article, entitled “Meaning, Purpose, and Spirituality in the Clinical Practice of Lifestyle Medicine,” is the culmination of insights from a 2025 national summit convened by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) in partnership with the Global Positive Health Institute, with funding support from the Ardmore Institute of Health. The gathering of nearly one hundred experts synthesized decades of research within a clinically actionable framework. This summit represents a pivotal moment in reconciling empirical data with practical care strategies, advancing a holistic vision for medicine that acknowledges the intricate connections between existential well-being and physical health.
There exists a growing compendium of empirical evidence demonstrating that patients who experience a sense of meaning and purpose, alongside spiritual well-being, exhibit superior health behaviors, enhanced psychological resilience, and improved overall well-being. These individuals also appear to benefit from a reduced risk of mortality. Despite acknowledgments by significant organizations such as the Joint Commission and the American Medical Association about spirituality’s relevance, clinical application remains inconsistent and sporadic. This article seeks to institutionalize these dimensions within routine healthcare, urging a systemic shift toward holistic patient acknowledgment.
Dr. Marc Braman, MD, MPH, lead author of the paper, highlights the profound need to treat patients as whole human beings rather than disjointed clinical cases. He emphasizes that lifestyle interventions yield their maximum benefit when they resonate with what genuinely matters to patients’ lives. Health improvements, he posits, are not merely medical outcomes but are intrinsically linked to the human drive for significance and purposeful existence. The neurological and psychosocial underpinnings of behavior change are deeply intertwined with patients’ value systems and meaning-making processes, presenting a compelling argument for integrating MPS into clinical encounters.
To translate theory into practice, the article offers pragmatic, scalable tools designed to embed MPS assessment and support within the clinical workflow. These tools include brief spiritual histories, comprehensive whole-person care frameworks, and collaborative team-based models that incorporate MPS into patient intake, documentation, follow-up care, and group visits. Importantly, the authors underscore that such conversations and interventions must be culturally sensitive, patient-led, and situated within an environment of trust and compassion, respecting diverse beliefs and backgrounds.
The toolkit developed alongside this paper serves as a practical resource for clinicians seeking to implement these strategies. It equips professionals with methodologies and communication approaches to effectively capture patients’ spiritual and existential dimensions, thereby facilitating more meaningful patient-provider exchanges and personalized care planning. By operationalizing these concepts, clinicians can foster adherence to lifestyle modifications and robustly support patients’ long-term health trajectories.
At the systemic level, the article identifies critical transformations necessary to support the integration of MPS in clinical medicine. Chief among these are the alignment of reimbursement models to incentivize comprehensive care, the formulation of meaningful metrics to measure the impact of spiritual care components, and expanded clinician training focused on whole-person care paradigms. These institutional changes are essential to embed MPS as a consistent element of healthcare delivery rather than an episodic or discretionary addition.
Additionally, the article reflects on ACLM’s forward-thinking expansion of the lifestyle medicine connectedness pillar, which now offers a conceptual and operational space for spirituality integration. This progression provides a unique opportunity for the field to explicitly incorporate spirituality into its evidence-based frameworks, grounding this approach in established lifestyle medicine principles while highlighting the transformative potential of a truly holistic healthcare model.
This article is part of a broader special issue in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine dedicated to the exploration of meaning, purpose, and spirituality and their profound implications for healthcare. The special issue collectively addresses themes including the robust evidence base underpinning the integration of MPS, practical clinical implementation strategies, educational initiatives for health professionals, and systemic considerations for clinician well-being. As such, it represents a significant advancement in defining the role of existential well-being in comprehensive patient care.
Reflecting on the value of this special issue, ACLM’s Senior Director of Research and Quality, Dr. Micaela Karlsen, PhD, MSPH, articulates the imperative that clinicians not only aim to ensure patient survival but to enable thriving. She emphasizes that comprehending every driver of health—including meaning, purpose, and spirituality—is paramount to achieving this goal. This perspective aligns with broader calls for patient-centered, value-based care models that respect and leverage the complex interplay of psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors.
In a healthcare environment increasingly dominated by metrics and efficiency demands, this research serves as a timely reminder of the fundamentally human dimensions underlying health and healing. By foregrounding MPS within clinical practice, this approach seeks not only to optimize health outcomes but also to restore a sense of dignity, relational depth, and authentic connection between patients and providers. It reframes lifestyle medicine as an integrative discipline poised to lead a transformative shift toward renewal of whole-person care.
The endorsement and dissemination of this research by prominent organizations and journals signify a critical endorsement of spirituality’s role in medicine. It underscores a paradigm shift where existential factors are no longer relegated to the periphery but are central to understanding and promoting health. Such systemic integration has the potential to enhance clinical efficacy and satisfaction for both patients and clinicians, fostering a more compassionate and effective healthcare system that fulfills the lofty ambitions of the Quintuple Aim.
As healthcare systems globally grapple with chronic disease challenges, lifestyle medicine’s broadened scope now promises to harness the power of meaning, purpose, and spirituality, setting a new standard for medical education, clinical practice, and research. This evolution not only supports improved physical health but endeavors to cultivate thriving individuals who can navigate life’s complexities with resilience, hope, and a profound sense of connection.
Subject of Research: Meaning, Purpose, and Spirituality integration in clinical lifestyle medicine practice.
Article Title: Meaning, Purpose, and Spirituality in the Clinical Practice of Lifestyle Medicine
News Publication Date: March 5, 2026
Web References:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15598276261419395
https://connect.lifestylemedicine.org/viewdocument/meaning-purpose-spirituality-toolkit
Keywords: Meaning and Purpose, Spirituality, Lifestyle Medicine, Whole-Person Care, Clinical Practice, Health Behavior, Psychological Resilience, Patient-Centered Care, Medical Education, Chronic Disease, Healthcare System Reform, Connectedness Pillar
